"There isn't any question he loves Chicago and this is where he wants to be," Trestman said, who recently had a 30-minute phone conversation with the Bears middle linebacker.

With free agency and the draft fast approaching, "premature" is an interesting choice of words by Trestman. The Bears will have to make an Urlacher decision sooner rather than later. Of course, it's also possible they already have and just aren't ready to make that public yet.

Urlacher, 34, is coming off a down season in which he was limited by knee and hamstring issues. He said last month he's feeling healthy and is willing to accept a discount to return to the Bears.

"When you look at my age and everything, it's going to be hard to not give them a discount," he said. "I'm not going to make what I was making in the past."

Trestman said the Bears don't plan to make dramatic changes to their defensive scheme, a scheme no one knows better than Urlacher. But it remains to be seen if Trestman and the Bears are ready to go in a new direction, one that doesn't involve one of the franchise's most iconic players.